“The current borrowing plan by our governor does not guarantee that the $25 million used today to pay the salaries of doctors and nurses at [Guam Memorial Hospital] and teachers at [Guam Department of Education] will be available after we commit to paying that money to the rich and powerful institutional investors on Wall Street,” said Pangelinan.
Further, Calvo’s plan to borrow $311 million in bonds to pay for overdue tax refunds is dependent on the Legislature raising the current debt ceiling by $100 million, said Pangelinan.
During these uncertain times, the lawmaker said, “our governor’s request to increase our credit limit does nothing to reduce unemployment, increase wages, fix our hospital or guarantee our teachers and students have adequate facilities and class sizes.” Pangelinan described it as “all the promises of a campaign.”
Quoting the Department of Administration, Pangelinan said the Republican administration is delinquent by over $38 million in income tax refunds budgeted for this fiscal year.
Over the past eight months, the people of Guam have had to suffer through the lowest income tax refund payout in several years, said Pangelinan.
“We have no commitment to pay income tax refunds or any transparent plans or evidence of reducing the cost to run our government,” he added.
Pangelinan said Calvo’s bond proposal was “ever-changing.” He said the governor has yet to provide his committee with a “thorough and comprehensive analysis to really see if the government of Guam can afford the bond, without having to continue to borrow from tax refunds in the future.”
